Richard Weeder is a farmer, tending crops of corn and beans and raising livestock on 700 acres in the small town of Lindsay, Neb. (population under 300), about 100 miles northwest of Omaha. But recently, he's been tending a commodity of a different sort, high school runners, at Holy Family High School, where he serves as the volunteer cross country coach.

And last October, his runners reaped a bumper harvest, taking two individual and one team title at the state Class D championships in Kearney. The victories were homegrown in the truest sense: Weeder's son, Kevin, a junior, won the boys race by 8 seconds to lead the Bulldogs to a 49-81 win over Chase County. His sister Andrea, a freshman, won the girls title by 9 seconds, and the team finished second by 32 points to perennial power Crofton. Not bad in any case, but even more amazing for a school whose enrollment totals only 57 students in four grades.

"We're always in a numbers game," says Weeder, noting that football (the eight-man variety) and volleyball also draw from a limited pool of athletes. Even though only four runners are necessary, there have been years when Holy Family hasn't been able to field a full team of harriers. "One of the keys was last year there were two pretty good girls who would have gone out for volleyball, but were convinced to run because we knew we had two good kids (Andrea and Brianna Coors) coming in the following year. Because they stuck around, we were able to have a good team," he says.

The boys' success was perhaps less surprising, at least to them. "We had everyone back from the previous year when we finished seventh, and all the teams ahead of us graduated at least one or two scorers, so we figured we could move up," Weeder says.

Holy Family, which combines with nearby Newman Grove when fielding a team, is one of the smallest of the 85 schools in Class D. But a season of jousting with relative Goliaths proved excellent preparation for this group of thinclad Davids, providing a toughening effect so they weren't intimidated when they finally faced teams from schools more their size at districts and state.

That "fear no one" attitude is also fostered during the summer months, when Weeder encourages his runners to compete in local road races. "It breaks up the monotony of just doing base mileage, and gives them some speed work," he says. "Plus, they're running against people of all ages and abilities, and that gives them confidence, too."

That emphasis on summer base training is something Weeder has used as a constant since he first went to the school board and booster club with his proposal for a cross country team a dozen years ago. "Our oldest daughter, Melissa, had run track in the spring and hadn't done so well. So I told her that summer I would go out and run with her and she'd get better."
Weeder hadn't run in years, since his high school days, so he sought out advice from Tom Dickey, the coach at nearby Boone Central. "He's given me plenty of help over the years," says Weeder, who also reads books and periodicals to expand his knowledge and stay current on the latest trends in training. "It seems like there are some new techniques that are becoming popular among the top athletes and coaches," he says. "It's good to read about the latest research."

While the rural nature of their surroundings makes Lindsay an ideal area in which to train -- "Kids can go right out their door and run," says Weeder -- they need to be motivated to do so over the summer, when jobs or relaxing can seem like more enticing options. "If they wait until the last two weeks it's too late," he says. "You really need to get the parents fired up. If they are, their kids will be, too."

The training is nothing revolutionary (see program at right). "We really don't taper for our meets," says Weeder, admitting that they will cut back and rest before the state meets, which perhaps explains their sudden improvement there.

As a result of that somewhat unexpected success, and because all their scoring runners return, Holy Family won't be able to fly into the state championship under the radar as they did in 2008. "We'll have a lot more attention next year," Weeder admits. But facing the prospect of another bumper crop of medals and trophies, he and his team will gladly accept that as part of the harvest.

Small team training strategy

The training regimen of the Lindsay Holy Family cross country program reflects the careful thought and care necessary to grow a specialty crop on a small plot. "I tend to keep things on the easier side," says coach Richard Weeder. "I don't want to chase too many kids away because they think it's too hard -- we can't afford to lose any runners."

The Bulldogs' schedule is basically repeated throughout the season, with the key elements of a long run, one speed session, one day of fartlek, and a race. All workouts are preceded by a mile warm-up and stretching and form drills, and followed by a mile warm-down. Once a week they'll do a weightlifting session of three sets of 10 reps -- "upper body only," says Weeder. "Their legs get enough work from the hills." Several times a week the runners will also do three sets of 10 to 15 push-ups.

Monday: Long run of 5 to 7 miles. "These are about half on the flat, half on hills," says Weeder. "That's just how the terrain is around here. The boys and better girls might go a little longer, especially as the season goes on and their fitness improves. I'd like to have them do it over the weekend, but you can't count on that happening so we do it on Monday as a team."

Tuesday: Speed work. "We'll do some combination of 800s, 400s, and 200s," says Weeder. "I try to mix it up and change the emphasis as the season progresses. Early on we'll do more longer intervals for lactic threshold work, then shift to shorter ones for speed near the championships. We used to do this on Wednesday, but I found it was affecting our races on Friday, so we've moved it up a day."

Wednesday: Fartlek run of 2.5 to 3 miles, followed by half a dozen hill sprints.

Thursday: 2.5 miles easy

Friday: Competition

This routine is followed pretty much right through the state championship campaign, with the exception of the final week of the regular season, when the Bulldogs run three meets in eight days. "We kind of take it easy after that, leading into state," says Weeder. His runners will cut back the distance of the long run and drop the 800s in favor of shorter, faster intervals. Weeder doesn't believe in too long or drastic a taper, however. "I think running success is more psychological than physical," he says. "If you taper too much, some kids will feel like they're losing their conditioning and won't have as much confidence going into the championship races."